Tuesday, April 17, 2018

For 7 years, at least 10 nations have been warring in the killing fields of Syria, each side claiming to be the just and good, and that their bombing, shooting, and destruction are necessary in order to bring peace!

Because of these warring nations over 460,000 humans have been slaughtered, untold millions wounded, over 11 million displaced from their homes. Think of that--over 11 million individuals; over 6 million have become refugees in other parts of Syria, and over 5 million have become refugees in other countries.

Almost 70 % of the population of the nation is in extreme poverty.

What is the answer to all of this?

Rama, 10 lives in a center for Syrian refugees. Photo by Suzy Sainovski

According to the U.S. government for the last several years, it has been to bomb more, shoot more missiles, send more special forces troops, give more weapons and money to Islamic rebels, etc.

And now since there is some evidence that Bashar Hafez al-Assad, the leader of Syria, dropped chlorine gas on fanatical rebels to force them out of their hiding places in cities on the edge of his capital, the U.S. President calls President Assad an "animal," and bombs again Syria, again.

A few months ago, the U.S. "accidentally" bombed civilians, too, BUT of course we aren't "animals."

The folly and absurdity of war.

HOWEVER IN THE MIDST OF THESE KILLING FIELDS, SOME HUMANS ARE BRINGING HOPE:

MCC of the U.S. and Canada are providing food for impoverished Syrians through the Syrian Orthodox Church in Homs, Syria, in Allepo, and elsewhere. "Young adults with the Charity Society for Sustainable Development in Damascus are responding to the needs of displaced families and other vulnerable people."

"If MCC's partners in Syria are not growing weary of doing good, how can we?"
from A Common Place magazine, J. Ron Byler
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World Vision is also involved in helping the refugees.
Rami, 3 years old, WV photo by Jon Warren

Key points on this new killing field and horrific debacle in the Middle East:

"So the dance goes on. Everyone pretends to have the moral high ground when no one actually does. Everyone pretends to want peace when no one does, while threatening war, which no one wants."

from "Let’s All Do the Cruise Missile Mambo
APRIL 15, 2018 BY ED BRAYTON

"If it was really about saving Syrians from the government killing them, why is the focus only on chemical weapons? A few thousand people have been killed by chemical weapons in that civil war, while hundreds of thousands have been killed by conventional weaponry and we’ve raised not a peep of protest."

"In fact, it was only a few days ago that Trump was saying we were pulling out, leaving the rebels at the mercy of Assad. And if he actually gave a damn about Syrian victims, he would admit them as refugees to this country..."

"Russia and Iran: They both get to pretend to be outraged by this unprecedented attack on Syrian sovereignty when neither one has ever given a damn about sovereignty when it suits their interests (just like us, of course). But in truth, they’re both thrilled that we only bombed a few facilities with almost no one in them."
--

"Russia is backing Assad because they are not willing to give up their warm water naval base there. Iran is backing Assad because of their business dealings and religious affiliation with him. Neither is going to withdraw that support and we know that. And we aren’t willing, nor should we be willing, to go to war over it and make them leave...So it’s all a big standoff where we all pretend to want to fix it but know we can’t."

"So the dance goes on. Everyone pretends to have the moral high ground when no one actually does. Everyone pretends to want peace when no one does, while threatening war, which no one wants. And Americans still need to figure out that we can’t just snap our fingers and make the world the way we want. And when we try to do that, the result is usually a disaster...We don’t need to participate in this dance at all."
by Ed Brayton

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2018/04/15/lets-all-do-the-cruise-misssile-mambo/#7CjXsCrtiXvuiPz2.99
--

Please write your congressperson to advocate for refugees, and to oppose U.S. money and weapons going to the killing fields. Especially oppose their being given to Islamic rebels.

And donate money to help these precious people of Syria.

Shine the Light Against the Darkness of 10 nations Destroying in the name of Justice.

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Words of Truth

TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives…If we remember those times and places…where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory. --Howard Zinn

I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him.--Martin Luther King Jr.

True religion consisted in an inward life, wherein the heart does love and reverence God the Creator, and learns to exercise true justice and goodness...I found no narrowness respecting sects and opinions, but believed that sincere, upright-hearted people, in every society, who truly love God, were accepted of him.--John Woolman

Love each other as I have loved you.. I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I heard from my Father.--Jesus in John 15: 12-15

...Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.

You have answered right, said Jesus, do this and life is yours...

Who is my neighbor?

Jesus replied with the Parable of the Good Samaritan [heretic, outsider, enemy].--from Luke 10:27-37

Religion has been emphatically embodied, not in speculative theories, but in practical righteousness, in active virtues, in reverence to God, in benevolence to man- the latter being the only sure test of the former. --Thomas M'Clintock

...It is safer to approach God through the Holy Spirit than through the door of theology. We can identify the Holy Spirit whenever it makes its presence felt. Whenever we see someone who is loving, compassionate, mindful, caring, and understanding, we know that the Holy Spirit is there. --Thich Nhat Hanh

Faith...manifests itself in all righteousness and works of love; it clothes the naked; feeds the hungry; consoles the afflicted; shelters the miserable; aids and consoles all the oppressed; returns good for evil; serves those that injure it; prays for those that persecute it.--Menno Simons

About Me

A committed Process-theist, Enlightenment ethicist and humanist, moral realist, human rights activist, and moderate skeptic (like Martin Gardner co-founder of the modern skeptic movement). I am a free-seeker--an avid seeker of the Good, the True, the Beautiful, and of equality, peace, justice, mercy, compassion, fidelity, generosity, and so forth. I try and model my life on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and his parables such as the Good Samaritan. I've a deep passion for worldwide outreach to those in need. Loving and living for the Divine--Ultimate Reality in whom we love, move, and have our being.
A poet and novelist; Married with three grown kids; Degree in Creative Writing from Cal State University Long Beach; Lived in the Middle East, Montana, etc; Former literature and writing teacher.